CIVIL WAR IN LEBANON, 1975-92 Also by Edgar 0 'Ballance ARAB-GUERILLA POWER CIVIL WAR IN BOSNIA: 1992-94 CIVIL WAR IN YUGOSLAVIA ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALIST TERRORISM NO VICTOR, NO VANQUISHED: The Middle East War, 1973 TERRORISM IN IRELAND: The Story of the IRA TERRORISM IN THE 1980s THE ALGERIAN INSURRECTION: 1954-62 THE ARAB-ISRAELI WAR: 1948-49 THE CYANIDE WAR THE ELECTRONIC WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST: 1968-70 THE FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION THE GULF WAR THE INDO-CHINA WAR: 1946-54 THE LANGUAGE OF VIOLENCE THE KURDISH REVOLT: 1961-70 THE KURDISH STRUGGLE: 1920-94 THE MALAYAN INSURRECTION: 1948-60 THE PALESTINIAN INTIFADA THE RED ARMY OF CHINA THE RED ARMY OF RUSSIA THE SECOND GULF WAR: The Liberation of Kuwait THE SECRET WAR IN SUDAN: 1955-72 THE SINAI CAMPAIGN, 1956 THE THIRD ARAB-ISRAELI WAR: 1967 TRACKS OF THE BEAR: US-USSR Relations in the 1970s WARS IN AFGHANISTAN: 1839-1992 WARS IN THE CAUCASUS: 1990-95 WARS IN THE YEMEN: 1962-69 WARS IN VIETNAM: 1954-60 Civil War in Lebanon, 1975-92 Edgar O'Ballance ©Edgar O'Ballance 1998 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1998 978-0-333-72975-5 All rights reserved. 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Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 98-17681 Transferred to digital printing 2002 Contents Preface Vll Acknowledgements Xlll List of Abbreviations XV Chronology XVll Maps of Lebanon XXl 1 Prelude to Civil War 1 2 The Battle of the Hotels: 197 5 20 3 Violent Polarisation: 1976 42 4 Assassination and Invasion: 1977-78 61 5 Christian Fratricide: 1978-80 79 6 Violence and Invasion: 1980-82 98 7 Mutual Enemies: 1982-83 117 8 Withdrawal and Chaos: 1984-85 136 9 The Syrians Return: 1985-87 158 10 Two Lebanese Governments: 1987-89 179 11 The Closing Battles: 1990-91 198 12 National Survival 216 Bibliography 224 Index 225 v Preface Volumes have been written about the Middle East in the last few decades, mainly revolving around the Arab-Israeli dispute, but there are remarkably few books on one of its most unfortunate victims, the tiny multireligious Republic of Lebanon, which has been invaded by Palestinians, Syr­ ians, Israelis and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, all of whom used Lebanon as a battleground to fight each other. It has also been used as a base for international terrorism, which took the form of hijacking international airliners and holding international hostages. Throughout all this Lebanon man­ aged to retain its political entity, despite having to bend considerably with the contrary winds of adversity. This is a fascinating basic account of its precarious struggle for sur­ vival, before fact becomes diluted by factional propaganda. Although it has ancient historical connections, the Re­ public of Lebanon is a creation of the twentieth century, prior to which it was merely a sanjak (district) based on the Mount Lebanon area, a tiny Christian entity within the Ottoman province of Syria. The modern Lebanese mili­ tary annals began with the 'First Lebanese Civil War' of 1858-61 against the Druse, in which thousands of Chris­ tians were killed, and which attracted Western European intervention. Prised away from Syria after the First World War by the French mandatory power, which gave a dominant role to the Maronite Christian community, it was enlarged to be­ come a viable country by the inclusion of the city of Beirut and its adjacent hinterland, in which there was a slight Christian majority. Gaining nominal independence in 1926, Lebanon slowly settled down as a multireligious republic. Under French guidance its economy improved and com­ merce thrived. Any stirrings of political discontent were stifled. Hundreds of thousands of Allied servicemen (my­ self included) visited Lebanon during the Second World War for a short leave from the desert and elsewhere, con­ firming its reputation as the Switzerland of the Middle East. Vll Vlll Preface Lebanon became a prosperous East Mediterranean country of about 4300 square miles, with a multiethnic, multireligious population of about two million people who seemed to be amicably living and working together, a fa~_;ade that later unfortunately proved to be false. During the Second World War the French provided Leba­ non with a constitution- known as the National Covenant of 1943, or more commonly referred to as the National Pact - in which political power was shared between Chris­ tian and Muslim sects on a ratio of six to 5, based on a census of 1932 that showed Christians to be in a slight majority. The president was to be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, the army commander a Maronite Christian and the National Assembly speaker a Shia Muslim. The president would nominate the prime minister, and all government, administration, civil service and army appointments were to be on a 'confessional' basis, an expression that became commonplace in Lebanon, meaning based on the assumed numerical strength of the various sects. The French left Lebanon in 1946, having established a form of Western democracy as well as freedom of speech and independent political parties. To placate 'big brother' Syria, which had never resigned itself to the loss of its sanjak, France had allowed Lebanon to be an 'Arab coun­ try with a Christian majority' - after all, Arabic was the mother tongue of both Christians and Muslims - and it joined the Arab League as a founder member in 1945. At last truly independent, Lebanon was immediately faced by internal political and religious divisions, ambitious leaders being frustrated by the confessional restrictions. The establishment of the State of Israel (in 1948), Leba­ non's token participation in the war against it, the result­ ant establishment of Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and the pan-Arab euphoric boom orchestrated by Presi­ dent Nasser of Egypt, affected Lebanese Muslims and led to the Second Civil War in Lebanon in 1958, the constitu­ tion only being saved by US military intervention. Israel defeated the Arab armies in June 1967 and made considerable territorial gains, after which Palestinian re­ sistance groups turned to international terrorism. Ejected Preface IX from Jordan in 1969, the Palestinian militias moved into the southern, Shia-inhabited part of Lebanon, adjacent to Israel, where elements remain to this day. The tiny Lebanese army was unable to prevent this invasion and occupation. Lebanon became a land of abrasive political militias. The Christians wanted to maintain their dominant status quo, but their increasingly doubtful majority was declining fur­ ther simply because the Muslim birth rate was higher than that of Christians. Believing they were now in the majority, the Muslims pressed for amendments to the unwritten National Accord, their leaders having designs on the higher offices of state (to date reserved for Christians) and in­ creased political power. The Arab-Israeli War of 1973 showed the futility of Arab dreams of military victory over Israel, after which a period of tense stand-off ensued in the Middle East. In Lebanon the central government slowly weakened due to Christian feuds and rivalry, while discord between sects festered. The immigrant Palestinian militias, like cuckoos in a nest, be­ came arrogant and demanding, which led to the Third Lebanese Civil War, the first round of which began in April 1975. At first the Christian militias fought against Pales­ tinian ones, with Muslim militias joining in against their Christian compatriots, and some of the battles raged over the Palestinian refugee camps. Once started, the Third Lebanese Civil War was difficult to stop. For the sake of survival the Christian militias forged tenuous periodic liaisons with Syria, which provided mili­ tary assistance. This turned the Palestinian and local Mus­ lim militias against Syria. The small Lebanese regular army suffered spasms of mutiny, desertion and divided loyalty. Christian groups quarrelled with each other, as did Mus­ lim and left-wing ones. The Christian president and his government were unable to control the anarchy that spread across the country. The most unlikely alliances of convenience were formed and shattered as individual allegiances and agendas changed. At one time or other during this 16- year civil war, each one of the dozen or so major armed groups fought against each other, at least for a short while.